


I'm a Wanted Man

by HyperDoctor11



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Barry goes by his mother's maiden name, Barry is always five minutes late to everything, Bisexual Barry Allen, Dark Barry Allen, Eddie and Iris are married, Eddie is now Eddie West, Eobard Thawne is Eddie's Uncle, Henry Allen is Dead, Henry Allen was in the Mob, Joe West treats Barry like his son even though he didn't raise him, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting, Mob Boss Leonard Snart, Multi, Nora Allen is Alive, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Leonard Snart, Protective Joe West, The Rogues are a mob family, The Rogues as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26607331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperDoctor11/pseuds/HyperDoctor11
Summary: Barry Allen returns to Central City for the first time in fifteen years -- the first time since he was eleven-years-old and watched his father be murdered in his living room. By day, he's a CSI at CCPD at his mother's behest to keep him out of trouble. By night, he's the newest bartender at Saints and Sinners.He quickly catches the eye of a mob boss by the name of Leonard Snart, or Captain Cold. Neither seems to want to let the other go, especially after Cold learns of Barry's family's past.Maybe Barry isn't cut out for the law-abiding life, after all.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon & Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen & Nora Allen, Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Cisco Ramon/Lisa Snart, Eddie Thawne/Iris West, Hartley Rathaway/Axel Walker, Henry Allen/Nora Allen (Mentioned), Iris West & Joe West & Wally West, Lashawn "Shawna" Baez/Mark Mardon, Leonard Snart & Lisa Snart, Mick Rory & Leonard Snart, Mick Rory & Leonard Snart & Lisa Snart, Mick Rory & Lisa Snart, Mick Rory/Caitlin Snow
Comments: 25
Kudos: 98





	I'm a Wanted Man

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> I'm excited to be writing this story. It was inspired by a book I passed by in the bookstore a few days ago about the mob. I never picked it up, but a part of my mind wondered what it would be like if Leonard was a mob boss and Barry wasn't as innocent as he pretended to be.  
> So, here we are!
> 
> The 'Mature' rating is for when we get to the eventual smut in the story. Because, yes, what is a good ColdFlash story without some smut?
> 
> Check me out at hyperdoctor11writes.tumblr.com

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Leonard bump into each other several times before they figure out who each other are and before Barry figures out just who his coworkers are.

It was all new to him -- the city.

Barry Allen -- Barry Thompson to everyone now -- hadn't been to Central City since he was eleven \-- almost fifteen years ago \-- when his father was murdered in front of himself and his mother in their living room by a man named Eobard Thawne. To see it again with the eyes of an adult was something exciting. Especially since he was on his way to his second job that Tuesday as a bartender at Saints and Sinners. It wasn't a job his mother approved of when he moved back to Central City alone, but she had been more at ease when he told her he had also gotten the CSI position at the CCPD. Anything to give his mother some peace of mind since they no longer lived together.

Barry turned the corner on Saffron Street, where his apartment building sat with his phone in his hand and ran straight into a stranger. A _handsome_ stranger, Barry noticed on second glance as he pocketed his phone in the back pocket of his dark navy blue jeans.

"Watch where you're going," the older man said in a cold voice. Cold liked ice.

"I could say the same to you," Barry remarked, threading his fingers through his floppy, dark brown hair.

Before he could get a few paces away from the man with the piercing blue eyes, the cold voice called out to him.

"You have any idea who I am?"

Barry turned around with a shrug. He gave the man a once-over. With short, cropped hair, a black leather jacket hugged his shoulders like the one Barry had on over a black sweater. Black jeans clung to the man's legs in all the right ways, and black combat boots finished the outfit. Something screamed danger to Barry. If Barry were a normal person, he would've apologized and scurried away. As it turns out, Barry is not a normal person and would not be intimidated by a man who looked like he had never outgrown his goth phase.

"No," Barry said, taking a few steps back toward the man. "Should I?"

"Don't you watch the news, kid?"

"I don't have a TV, much less the time to pay any attention to the news," Barry commented with an easy smile. "I've got two jobs and not much time for anything else."

"Two jobs?" The man asked, impressed. He nodded once as he took in Barry's scuffed-up white Converses and the red and white plaid shirt under the black leather jacket he was wearing. The kid looked too thin in his eyes. "So, you've never heard of me?"

"Probably not," Barry said, checking his watch on his left wrist to see that, if he didn't get a move on, he'd surely be late to his sixth day bartending. "Just got to the city about two weeks ago." He smiled at the man. "I'll have to look you up if you're so famous."

 _"In_ famous," the man corrected Barry, waiting for Barry to run away.

Barry smirked instead. "Even better."

Barry turned once more to leave when the man called out and asked, "what's your name?"

Barry smiled over his shoulder. "If you're so powerful, you'll figure it out."

He walked away, leaving the blue-eyed man in a silent shock.  
  


○○○○○○○○○○  
  


Barry had all but forgotten about the man in a few day's time.

His new life in Central City had taken center stage in his mind.

His life as the new CSI was hectic, to say the least. That was nothing to say of Captain Singh, who was less than tolerant of Barry's near-habitual lateness by all of five minutes. Barry could argue that the man had something against him, but he knew better. Captain Singh seemed to be a man with a stick up his ass about everything anybody did -- Barry included. If he could only get the Captain to loosen up, then maybe Barry wouldn't dislike his job as much.

Then, there was Detective Joe West and his partner, Eddie Thawne, now known as Eddie West. Barry could tolerate Joe. The man had been nothing but kind to Barry ever since he stepped foot into the precinct. Something about Barry reminding him of his son, Wally. But Eddie Thawne was harder for Barry to trust with Eobard being his uncle and his ties -- whether he used them or not -- to the Thawne mob family. Barry knew that Eddie changed his last name to West after marrying Joe's daughter -- don't even get Barry started on why all of that was wrong -- to get away from his family, but that didn't make Barry want to trust him any farther than he could throw him. Which, admittedly, wasn't very far.

"Thompson!" Singh yelled as he came out from the bullpen watching Barry clocking out for the day. "Those reports?"

"Will be done on Monday," Barry said with a shrug of his shoulders as he threw on his leather jacket over his red t-shirt. He wanted to correct everybody that used his mother's last name -- the name she changed his name to when they left Central -- but didn't. "I'm done for the week."

"Thompson!"

"Sorry, boss man."

Barry entered the elevator that opened up for him and watched as the doors closed on Captain Singh's perpetually annoyed face. Barry smiled to himself. While he like the CSI work -- had gotten the degrees for it in Keystone -- he didn't particularly enjoy it as much as he claimed to his mother. All Nora Allen -- Nora Thompson -- wanted for her son was for him to keep on the straight and narrow like her side of the family; the side of the family filled mostly with policemen and policewomen. She didn't want him to fall into the wrong crowd like his father's. Barry knew that was the reason she pushed so hard for him to be a CSI and put his degrees to use instead of being a bartender at Saints and Sinners in a city she couldn't watch out for him in.

But Barry wasn't a child anymore. He made his own decisions.

Even if those decisions made his mother uncomfortable sometimes.

"Hey, Barry!"

Barry smiled at his coworker, Shawna Baez, who was making a White Russian for a regular customer. Shawna, or Boo as everyone called her, had taken an immediate liking to Barry just like her fiance, Mark. The both always plied him with enough food to feed a hoard of people, claiming Barry looked too skinny to be healthy. Barry didn't complain, though. He made the minimal salary anyone at the CCPD made, making most of his tips and salary from the bar go to his bills instead of his food. But Shawna and Mark didn't need to know that. He didn't need them to worry over him.

"What's up, Boo?" Barry asked, coming around the bar to her side as he took off his leather jacket. "Anybody giving you trouble?"

Shawna laughed as she walked away from the customer, who began to nurse their drink. "If they did, do you think they'd still be here?"

Barry smiled. Whoever owned the place ran a tight ship. Barry had never met the owner, just the two managers, Mick Rory and Lisa Snart, for his interview. Mick told Barry that if he worked here long enough, he'd have the privilege to meet the boss. Barry had no idea what that meant, but he didn't much care. A job was a job. He fell into a comfortable routine with everybody he had met, feeling as though he had always belonged there. It felt much more like his home than the CCPD did.

After Barry clocked in, he stood at the bar beside Shawna and bumped her hip with a smirk.

"How's Mark?" Barry asked, taking to cleaning a few of the dirty glasses. "I haven't seen him in a couple of days." _Not since the day after I came into contact with that strange man._

Shawna waved her hand as she rearranged the garnishes behind the bar. "He hasn't been feeling good. I think he caught something."

Barry didn't think that was the full truth with Shawna not being able to look him in the eye, but he didn't comment. He wasn't going to start an argument over something small. He just hoped Mark was doing all right.

"I hope he gets better," Barry said, sending a small, playful smile to Shawna. "He's my favorite."

Shawna let out an indignant sound before tossing her white rag at him. Barry laughed when he got hit by the rag he tried to duck. He tossed Shawna back her rag when Lisa sauntered in through the door. Barry didn't know much about Lisa, only that she was dating Cisco and was the boss's little sister. He knew not to mess with her. Barry had seen her be harassed by a drunk one night. It didn't end well for the drunk.

"What'll it be today, Goldie?" Barry asked as he wiped down the bar top in front of where Lisa sat.

"A Black Martini," Lisa said, her voice smooth and sweet as she smiled at Barry.

"Feeling dark today?" Barry joked as he grabbed the alcohol he needed to make the drink.

"Something like that."

The rest of his night was a familiar routine. He served the regular costumers and flirted with the new ones to keep them coming back for more. He talked happily with Cisco and Caitlin, a feisty woman who complimented her boyfriend, Mick Rory's, fire well with her own icy attitude. He felt as though a great friendship was growing between the three of them and couldn't be happier. Barry needed friends. He was a social creature by nature. To not have any friends hurt Barry in ways he couldn't describe.

That was why he enjoyed being a bartender more than a CSI — he couldn't make friends at the CCPD with his father's family's records. Nobody trusted him much over there. At Saints and Sinners, nobody knew anything about him. It made it easier to lie and pretend he came from a family with no criminal ties. He feared if his new friends found out his father had been in the mob and his father's father had been a nasty criminal, that it wouldn't end well for him.

By two in the morning, when the bar was closing up, Barry's body sagged in near exhaustion. He had been up since seven-thirty in the morning the day before and knew he'd only be getting four hours of sleep before he'd have to get up for work at CCPD. All he could do as they ushered the last person out was wipe down the bar and put away the garnishes and alcohol in their rightful places.

"Barr," Shawna said with a tap to Barry's shoulder. Barry wiped his hands on his dark jeans and turned to Shawna. "Someone wants to see you." She pointed to a secluded booth in the back corner. "Don't make him angry."

Barry narrowed his green eyes at her in confusion but didn't ask questions. There was something in her tone that begged him to listen to her and not argue. Barry nodded his head and made his way to the booth before sliding into the empty seat. Across from him was the man he had encountered on the street a few days ago.

To say it shocked Barry would be an understatement. He didn't think anything would come from bumping into the blue-eyed man. He was wrong.

"Bartholomew Henry Thompson," the man said in his cold tone of voice. Barry didn't correct him about the name change his mother forced on him when they left Central City fifteen years ago. The blue eyes seemed to want to pierce through the armor Barry kept up. "Had I known you worked here from the start, I would've introduced myself."

"And you are?"

"Leonard Snart," the man introduced as he leaned back into the booth. "I'm the owner."

Barry contained his shock. "Nice to finally meet the man who gave me the job."

"I'm assuming you know who I am. Otherwise, you'd’ve run out of here a while ago."

"Leonard Snart, Captain Cold," Barry said, leaning back in the booth as well, "you're the mob boss for the Rogue family. I've had the pleasure of running one of your crime scenes once. You're good at covering your tracks; not even the CCPD has much on you, making my job harder when I tried looking you up. I couldn't even find anything on who your Rogues were."

"I'm _very_ good," Leonard said smugly. "Couldn't find much on you, either."

Barry smirked. "I'm sure you won't."

"You're different, kid," Leonard said after a beat. "Not like anybody else I've ever seen."

Barry shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. His green eyes glanced up at the clock above the bar to see he didn't have much time to talk if he wanted at least four hours of sleep to deal with the idiots at CCPD.

"I'm sure I'm not like anyone you've ever seen, Cold," Barry said, a hint of danger in his eyes. He got up from the booth. "Thank you for the job, by the way. I enjoy working here."

With that, Barry left.

"Don't scare him off, please, boss," Shawna said, slipping into the seat Barry had been in. Her dark brown eyes pleaded with Leonard. "He's a good person; I really enjoy his company, and so does Mark. Everybody does here."

Leonard hummed before leaving the booth as well.  
  


○○○○○○○○○○  
  


Barry sighed as he walked into his lab at CCPD two weeks after formally meeting Captain Cold.

It was eight-oh-five in the morning on Friday when he had punched in, earning a glare from Captain Singh. He had shrugged the look off like he had done every time he clocked in. The look was supposed to motivate Barry to be on time. It only motivated Barry to want to fight him.

But in his lab -- the only place he had any kind of free will in CCPD -- felt amazing. Most people didn't bother him when he was in the lab. The officers and detectives only came up when they needed something analyzed for them or a report. The only person to ever venture up there for something other than work-related things was Joe West. He had taken quite a shine to Barry, almost like he was adopting the twenty-six-year-old. When Barry accidentally let slip about how little CCPD paid him for all the work he did, Joe offered for him to come over his house for dinner one night to meet his family.

Barry declined.

"Hey, Barry," Joe said, entering the lab just as Barry got settled in for the day.

"Don't tell me there's already a new case," Barry said, his voice betraying him and letting know Joe just how stretched thin he was. He dropped his black leather jacket over the coat hanger.

"No. No," Joe said quickly to assuage Barry's worry. Joe shook his head; his dark brown eyes scanned the messy lab. "How do you find anything in here?"

Barry sighed deeply, running a hand down his face as he dropped into his desk chair. "Is there something you need, Joe?"

"Oh, right," Joe said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Iris and Wally want to meet you. Eddie and I talk about you all the time-"

"Probably should stop."

"-and they're wondering when you're coming over for the weekly family dinner," Joe said, pretending Barry hadn't said a word. "It's every Friday that we get together-"

"Today just happens to be Friday," Barry cut off Joe. This time, he continued to talk. "Why do you assume I'm free? I have a second job."

"You mumbled something on the way up here about going home and sleeping the rest of the day away," Joe said with a shrug. He waved away Barry's confused look. "I'm a detective, kid. It's my job to catch onto the little things."

"Whatever," Barry said, leaning back in his chair. He huffed. "You're not gonna stop until I give in, are you?"

Joe smiled at him like he was a proud father looking at his son. "No." He shook his head. "Dinner starts at six-thirty. You don't have to bring anything or dress any special way. Just be prepared for a lot of questions." Joe began to walk out of the lab. "Oh!" He turned around at the entryway. "Iris and Wally don't know about your father's past."

Barry nodded his head. "Probably for the best."

"You don't have to tell them."

"I won't."

Joe nodded and left the lab.

Barry sunk into his chair, letting his head fall back over the chair, and let out the most prolonged groan of his life. How did he get sucked into the West family? How did he let himself get sucked into a family of two cops, a reporter, and an engineering student? A family of good-doers who would all faint at the sight of Henry Allen's record. How did this become his life?

Barry let himself get lost in his work for the rest of the day to ignore the dinner he was going to that night. He didn't want to, but he had been on the other end of the disappointed Joe West face once before and wasn't looking for an encore. If it meant he would have to suffer through one West family dinner to prove to Joe he wasn't someone that the man wanted around his daughter and son, then so be it.

When six-thirty-five came around, Barry knocked on the West's front door. The door opened to Eddie's wide smile.

"Barry!" Eddie shouted. "Come on in."

The man opened the door wider, and Barry cautiously entered the house, unsure if he would need to run away. Coming out of the dining room was Iris West and Wally West. Their giant smiles did nothing to ease the pit formed in Barry's stomach. He felt more nervous in the West house than he had on any interview he had ever gone on, and he didn't know why. He wasn't looking for the West family's approval -- he had his mother and the people at Saints and Sinners to care about. Then why was he straightening his white t-shirt like some nervous prom date?

"You must be Barry," Iris West said, coming to loop her arm with Eddie's. "I'm Iris. Eddie and my dad have told me so much about you."

Barry laughed nervously. "All good things, I hope."

"Only the best," Wally said, walking around the couple to extend his hand out toward Barry. "I'm Wally."

Barry shook his hand. "Barry -- which you already knew."

"Barry!" Joe West yelled, coming out from the kitchen. "You made it!"

"Yeah," Barry said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I did. Sorry I'm late."

"You're always five minutes late for everything," Joe said without malice. "We adjusted."

Barry laughed away some of the tension in his shoulders as he allowed himself to be pulled over to the dining table where the food was being set out on. All of the food -- the chicken, the potatoes, the gravy, the Italian bread -- all looked amazing to Barry's near-empty stomach. A couple of days ago, he had to choose between food or his bills. He made the obvious choice to keep the roof over his head. Not that anyone in his life knew, not even his own mother. He didn't want to bother them. But, he wouldn't say no to the free food sitting in front of him.

Dinner was pleasant with small talk meant to bring Barry into the conversation. Barry felt more at ease the longer he was there, laughing at a joke Eddie cracked, making little comments and digs at Joe like he was part of the family. It felt nice. But multiple times throughout the night, he had to remind himself just whose house he was sitting in and how he shouldn't let himself get carried away. They were never going to fully trust him the way they trusted each other. Even if they welcomed him into the fold of their family someway, he would always be an outsider.

Barry offered to help Joe with the dishes when everyone was done eating. Iris, Eddie, and Wally went to the living room to pick out a movie to watch for the night. While Joe washed the dishes in silence, Barry dried them and put them in the dish strainer.

"Thanks for coming over tonight," Joe said, breaking the silence. Barry could hear Iris yell at Wally saying something about not watching _Die Hard_ again for the third family night in a row. "You really remind me of Wally."

Barry shrugged his shoulders as he patted his black jeans. "I don't see how. He's a good kid and-"

"So are you," Joe interrupted, turning off the water as he finished cleaning the last dish. Barry began to dry it. "You are not your father. You are not his mistakes. You make your own; that's what I always tell my kids."

"Thanks, Joe," Barry said with a small smile as he put away the last dish. He put the dish towel down on the counter as he leaned against it. "But, I'm," he struggled for words, "I'm really not that good of a person."

"I don't see you out there holding banks up at gunpoint."

"Not yet."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Barry, you're a good kid."

Bary didn't know to respond.

He was used to his mother's family looking at him with thinly-veiled disdain as though he were going to run off and join the mob at age thirteen.

He was used to the quiet whispers in the hallways of his high school where rumors traveled fast, and not even changing his last name protected him from his father's past.

He was used to his mother keeping an iron-tight grip on the back of his metaphoric collar so he didn't risk turning into his father.

He was used to having to come up with convincing lies about his father's family to strangers that he wouldn't be around for more than three months before they, too, found out and ran away from him.

Barry was _not_ used to someone knowing his entire life story and accepting him without question -- ugly parts and all.

"Uh, thanks for dinner tonight, Joe," Barry said, instead, rubbing the back of his neck. "But, uh, I gotta go. It's getting late."

"Oh, come on," Wally said, walking into the kitchen to grab a can of pop, "you can't stay for the movie?"

"Don't tell me you picked _Die Hard_ again," Joe said fondly, turning his attention to his son. "Your sister will kill you."

Wally smiled at his dad. "Nah. I let her and Eddie pick some Hallmark movie where 'true love saves the day.'" Wally and Joe shared a laugh before turning their attention to Barry. "So? Will you stay?"

Barry gave a closed smile and shook his head. "I have an early shift at Saints and Sinners tomorrow. I need to get my sleep. But, uh, again, thanks for dinner."

Barry barely managed to skirt out of the house and narrowly avoid Iris and Eddie beg him to stay.

The walk back to his apartment was pleasantly silent.

Barry could finally think. He could finally have a thought that wasn't -- _shit, have to pretend, have to smile, have to lie, make up a lie, don't get too close, damn it too close._ He could let the tension flood from his body. He could just be himself as he walked to his apartment in the not-so-okay part of Central.

When he got to his apartment -- Apartment 12C -- he was exhausted. He let his shoulders sag as he unlocked his door. He kicked off his Converse and shrugged off his black leather jacket leaving him in a white t-shirt and black jeans. In the near-complete darkness of the apartment, he tripped over a package next to the door on his way to his bedroom.

"What the?" He trailed off, picking up the box and weighing it in his hands.

The box wasn't heavy. It felt like nothing was inside. The box was nondescript; there was no return address and only his name type on a sticker on the box: Barry Thompson.

Oh, how Barry eye-rolled so hard every time he saw that name.

Barry ripped the package open at the door and became instantly confused. Inside was a sealed envelope. He pulled the envelope out, dropping the useless box to the ground in front of him. The name he eye-rolled at was, also, typed on a sticker on the envelope, giving no indication as to who might've sent it to him. He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, a few bills falling out of it and fluttering to the ground into the cardboard box.

Barry chose to read the letter first.

_Barry,_

_Nice apartment._

_Little low on food._

_Consider this an investment._

"Investment?" Barry muttered.

He tried to look on the thick paper for a name or any indication of who sent it to him but came up short. With the letter in one hand, he reached down into the cardboard box and pulled out two five-hundred-dollar bills.

_"Holy shit!"_  
  


○○○○○○○○○○  
  


It was the Sunday after the West family dinner, and Barry was still feeling on edge, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He hadn't used the one-thousand-dollars that the mysterious person had left him in his apartment. He didn't even want to think about where the money came from. He hid the money away in a small lockbox under his bed and tried not to think about it. The tips he had received the night before had been enough to put some food in his fridge to last him a couple of days. He hoped he made a bit more that night but wasn't counting on it.

The night before, when he came into the bar, it had been suspiciously empty of Leonard Snart. That Sunday night, though, Leonard Snart sat in his back booth chatting happily with Lisa and Mick over a few beers.

"Hey, Barr!" Mark shouted loudly, bringing Barry into a side hug and noogieing him. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Barry laughed as he maneuvered himself out of Mark's hold. "Yeah. Boo said you weren't feeling good."

"Yeah," Mark said, walking behind the bar with Barry following him. "But I'm better now."

"It seemed that you, Roy, Hart, and Axel weren't feeling good at the same time," Barry said with raised eyebrows as he took off his black leather jacket. "Something I should know as a concerned coworker?"

Barry watched Mark's eyes skate over him before he gave Barry a reassuring smile. "No. Nothing important."

Barry didn't press. He fixed his black shirt and dark navy blue jeans before taking his place behind the bar with Mark. It was Shawna's day off; Hartley and Axel were in the back; Cisco and Caitlin were at their jobs at S.T.A.R. Labs being the doctor and scientist for Dr. Harrison Wells. Barry had let out an embarrassing squeal when he realized where his friends worked. He had always wanted to meet Dr. Harrison Wells, had always wanted his autograph, and to just in general talk to the man about science.

"The boss wants to see you," Mick said, walking over to Barry.

Barry's green eyes shifted to the back booth. "Does he now?" Barry asked sassily. He hated being summoned.

"Don't make him wait," Mick warned before walking off.

Barry huffed. With a smile at Janine, a regular customer, Barry put down the white rag he had slung over his shoulder and walked out from behind the bar. He slid into the empty seat as if he owned the place.

"Leonard," Barry said with an easy smile on his face. "We've got to stop meeting like this."

"Real funny, kid," Leonard said with a beer in hand. "Curious thing, all of your records start in Keystone when you were eleven. Care to explain?"

"Why're you so interested in my past?" Barry asked, something twisting in his chest. "Thinking you'll find something worth something?"

Leonard shrugged. "I just like to know who I surround myself with. You seem to be a good kid, kid. Why're you working in a place like this?"

"Because I got the job," Barry replied trying to feign indifference. "Does it matter?"

"Does to me."

Something in Barry wanted to let loose with Leonard -- something he'd never done with others before. Something about Leonard felt safe, especially with the knowledge that Leonard couldn't judge Barry for his father's past if Leonard himself were a mob boss.

"I'm like you, you see." He leaned in toward Leonard, who backed off a fraction. "I'm not exactly the goody-good everyone sees."

The familiar twisting in his stomach told him to stop. Don't tell Leonard about his family's past. Don't allow Leonard to look at him with disgust and hate. But Leonard was a mob boss. It wouldn't matter much and wouldn't affect his employment at Saints and Sinners. He didn't want to lose his job, but, with one look over at Hartley and Axel, who had come out from the back and at Mark at the bar, he realized he didn't want to lose the respect of his coworkers if his family stories got out more. If they knew, what would they think of him?

The intrigued look in Leonard's blue eyes that contrasted beautifully with the otherwise indifferent look on his face made Barry feel the need to continue.

"My father was in the mob -- the Santini family's resident doctor and soldier. He wasn't a good guy. His father was a military man that went rogue after discharge and was a nasty sonuvabitch. My father's older brother, William, is about the only one on that side of the family not to have a record. His three kids have all got at least one conviction against them. The oldest has several for possession. The middle has got a few nasty ones. The youngest's only got a DUI like the other two's got."

Barry could see the disbelief in Leonard's eyes.

"Don't believe you," Leonard said. Barry was silent. "Why should I believe you, kid?"

"Well, I'm a liar," Barry said in a sweet, velvety voice as he placed his hand under his chin, not breaking eye contact with Leonard. "I lie to those around me to get what I want. If I can't lie my way out, I manipulate. What I just told you could be the truth," his green eyes seemed to darken with a danger Leonard didn't know he possessed, "or it could be a complete lie."

In the corner of his eye, he could see a crowd of people come in dressed in football jerseys. They crowded around the bar where Mark was alone looking a little lost.

 _Why does it always have to end with me leaving?_ Barry thought with a mental pout.

He looked at Leonard with a smirk. "Bartholomew Henry Allen," Barry said, feeling a weight lifted off his chest at being able to give his actual name to someone. "Born and raised here in Central City. Mother Nora Thompson. Father Henry Allen. Look me up when you get the chance. I'm going to help Mark behind the bar if you don't mind."

While Leonard's head swirled with the new information, he gestured lazily to the bar and large group of people. "Be my guest."

Barry smiled and left the booth to help Mark attend to the rowdy group.

At the end of the night, Leonard passed by Barry, who was getting ready to leave.

"I do so hope you made good use of that one-thousand-dollars I gave you and bought healthy foods," Leonard said before leaving.

Barry stared at the back of Leonard as the bell above the door sounded out.

_"What?!"  
  
_

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It had been a week and some change since he'd seen Captain Cold.

That day -- Tuesday -- was one of his days off from the bar, but not from CCPD. He came very close that day multiple times to throwing something at the Captain's head -- preferably a thick book to knock him out. Barry didn't want to deal with the Captain on his ass about anything that day. It was bad enough he didn't have time to finish any of his reports by the time he clocked out because of the new crime scene, but with David Singh on his ass, he felt like screaming the building down.

When Barry got home, all he felt like doing was crashing on his couch until his phone alarm went off the next morning. But fate had other plans. Sitting on his couch in his locked apartment was Leonard Snart. Leonard looked at home in Barry's apartment, like he belonged there. Though, it didn't surprise Barry as much as it should've since he did leave a package there once over a week ago.

"I'm assuming since I've still got my job," Barry said with a smirk as he kicked off his white converse and shrugged off his leather jacket, "that what you found didn't bother you much."

"It bothered me _very_ much to have _Henry Allen's son_ working for me at Saints and Sinners," Leonard said darkly. The tone of voice made many of his Rogues scared straight. But it didn't affect Barry. Leonard stood up swiftly from the couch. "To have you work for me when your father worked for him," Leonard took in a sharp breath through his nose.

"I don't work for anybody but you at Saints and Sinners and the CCPD," Barry said, not affected by Leonard as he skirted past him into the kitchen to grab something to drink. "I promised my mother when I got back to Central that I'd keep my nose clean." Barry paused with a glass of water in his hand as though he found something funny. "Though, to be honest," he turned to Leonard with a small smirk, "I always figured something like this would happen."

"Something like what, kid?" Leonard asked.

"My dad's past coming back to haunt me," Barry said, bringing the glass to his lips before taking a sip. "It was only a matter of time, really. It was part of the reason my mother changed my last name; protect me until she couldn't protect me any longer. So, what are you going to do, _Captain Cold?"_

Leonard shrugged. "Nothing I can do. My crew likes you too much for me to take you out."

"Your crew?" Barry echoed. He chugged the rest of the water. "I've never met them before."

It was Leonard's turn to smirk. "Shawna? Mark? Mick? Lisa? Cisco? Caitlin? Hartley? Axel? Roy? Any of those names ring a bell, Scarlet?" Leonard asked after seeing a red blush flush its way across Barry's face.

"You mean -- you're telling," Barry trailed off, setting down the glass before threading his fingers through his hair. "The people I work with are the _Rogues?!"_

Leonard was happy to have finally gotten something under Barry's skin. The kid seemed to have built an impenetrable wall around himself. To have found something to knock a hole in it made Leonard more proud of himself then he cared to admit.

"You surprised?" Leonard asked, turning his body toward the door of the apartment giving Barry a sly look over his shoulder. "They _do_ work at Saints and Sinners."

Barry's mouth opened and closed like a fish as he tried to process the new information. The entire time he worked at Saints and Sinners -- just a little over a month and a half -- he had been worried about what his coworkers would do if they found out about his family's past. Now, he found out that worrying was for nothing. They were doing the same thing his father had done; they wouldn't judge him.

"I can see you need time to cope," Leonard said. He walked over to the closed apartment door. "I'll give you some space."

Barry's mind had blue screened by the time Leonard shut the door on his way out. He would definitely need time to mull over everything. But one thing Barry knew for sure was this: he would keep working at Saints and Sinners until he died if that meant being around the people who treated him like he was family.

Even if it meant being around Leonard Snart, who, dare Barry think it, wasn't as bad as every 'good' person in his life warned he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. This is not the end by any means. I really enjoyed writing this. There will definitely be more to come.


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